`Twelve Days` More Expensive

December 25, 1986|By CLARENCE PETERSEN, Chicago Tribune

The cost of giving your true love all the presents mentioned in the song Twelve Days of Christmas was a little higher this year, owing to increases in the price of French hens, gold rings and pools to accommodate seven swans a- swimming.

The increases were partially offset by declines in the prices of cows for the song`s eight maids a-milking and of 11 pipers and 12 drummers.

According to ``MoneyPower Confidential,`` an investment newsletter published by Hugh Gee & Co. of San Francisco, which compiled the 1986 ``Christmas Index,`` the price of a partridge in a pear tree remained stable at $19.95 -- or $5 for the partridge and $14.95 for the tree.

French hen prices, $6 for three last year, rose to $8.25 this year. Five ounces of gold for the song`s five rings rose to $1,915.50 from last year`s $1,611.50. A 15-by-30-foot pool, large enough for seven swans, rose to $22,000 from $20,000.

Eight cows, one for each milkmaid, dropped from $7,840 last year to $6,000 this year. Eleven pipers and 12 drummers all wanted $100 a player for two hours, a total tab of $1,100 for the pipers, $1,200 for the drummers.

The cost of everything came to $38,984.70, compared with last year`s $38,886.45. Because the song consists of 12 refrains, the grand total comes to $219,033.90, up 2 percent.